Feels like this entire week was a blur, which was probably made worse by my son having Thursday off. This was the same day I had my eye doctor appointment and that resulted in dilation. Not fun trying to keep up with an 8-year-old when everything brighter than a firefly blinds you. A lot of time was spent dealing with a personal issue that I can’t go into here. Good thing I’m having a zoo day tomorrow, which will have the little guy in his homemade costume too. Post about that will be tomorrow.

Technology

This is predominantly about the laptop, which came back and now I’m just waiting for the box to send it in for a refund. Leaning towards a Lenovo since I’ve heard good things and have no interest in relearning everything for a Mac. There’s also my iPhone updating and making things a mess, which isn’t endearing me to Apple. The fonts are insanely huge and I can’t adjust them. It keeps asking if I want to turn on some driving function. The Twitter app reboots every time, so I can never start with the notifications from where I left off. It’s just a headache that I didn’t need.

Going back to the laptop, I want to tell a story about SCAMMERS!

The day after my laptop came back, I got a call from Dell Tech Services. At least that’s what the phone said. This guy started talking to me about the malware on my computer and how he needed to walk me through removing it. Keep in mind that I never took it out of the box, so it was uncharged and the OS hadn’t been set up again. Every time I asked about the malware, he would say ‘It came from the Internet’. I FUCKING KNOW! It was amazing that they sent back a computer with malware, but I was too pissed to realize the issue. He didn’t get very far and I gave him a time to call me back . . . Then, I remembered my one question: How could malware still be on the machine when the OS was scrubbed and reinstalled as well as the motherboard being replaced? That shouldn’t be a thing, so I called Dell to ask. Seems it isn’t possible and this bastard would have had me do something on my computer that was either pointless or damaging before asking me for money. They bounce it off the Dell network or something. The guy didn’t call back and I didn’t remember the name due to the rage. This actually was the final straw for my body too and I gradually slipped into my first ‘intestine spasm’ in a year. Stopped it before it hit the crippling pain level at least.

War of Nytefall: Loyalty

As of yesterday, I finished writing Clyde’s first adventure. I ran into a few problems like a late decision that is supposed to be a bad one. Since I write my characters flawed, they make mistakes and repeatedly do these ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ actions. This doesn’t always play well to audiences and I might have to work really hard to fix this up. Unless it helps that the other heroes are complaining and Clyde simply says he doesn’t have a good reason. It’s tough to explain, but he had a choice between ending something or making it worse. He went with the second because he wanted a challenge and was feeling bored. Totally in character for him at this point since he’s been thrashing everyone that’s faced him. Part of Clyde is that he wants to be challenged and that’s typically something you see in a villain. The villain came out different than I intended too, but he might change and mature later.

My wife might read this book and give me some feedback to help me along. I’ve gone over it as I wrote, so all the scenes work and no massive rewrites will be necessary unless something is really off. Keep in mind that all of my big series have been thought about, planned out, and worked on for years, so I hash out a lot in those early stages. It’s almost like my first draft isn’t really the first draft since I do so much beforehand. Pretty sure most authors would argue with me on this one, but it’s how I operate. Is it even possible to have a first draft in your head instead of paper?

Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age

After a few days of resting, I’m going to be going full force into this one. First step is doing all of the December posts, except for the Tuesday and Thursday posts. Not sure what to do on these days to help promote. Was thinking of reviving Teaser Tuesday and Questions 3 for the month. Only tough part is the teasers might all hold some spoilers and the question thing tended to bomb near the end. Leaving the days blank doesn’t sit well with me because I need to really push things. Only 2 of the guests posts remain incomplete here too with those being interviews. Things are looking good, but I’m still really nervous about this one.

I will try to start doing a final edit on this book too. Maybe near the end of the week or wait until after Halloween. Since I’m still lacking a laptop, I can’t really sit down and go full blast on an edit. Need to make sure I have the desktop free and nights are still a challenge. Not really sure what I plan to accomplish with this edit either. I did a few already and my wife just finished her read through. My mom will be looking over it next once I get it on her Kindle. The characters work, the scenes work, and the ending is as bittersweet as I expected. Maybe I’m just having trouble letting go here.

Future Project

I’m trying to decide on what to do after I do the edit and December posts. Might edit the 2 Bedlam books that are done even though they won’t be published next year. There’s setting up a few things for next summer, which could take a few hours. Part of me is tempted to dive into the next book, which is a one-shot spin-off for Legends of Windemere. Another option is to sit down when a notebook and see if I can plan out a few more Ichabod Brooks stories even though he’s getting 2018 off too. Next year is definitely more about the Dawn Fangs and the Legends one-shot. Beginnings and endings one could say. Not happy about the skip for Ichabod and Bedlam, but I need to prioritize. Maybe I can do the outline for the last Raven story for next October too. Not sure how to do that one, so I might wait until the current one is done and then see what people think. Just feeling like everything is up in the air.

Goals for the week?

Get celebratory pizza since I finished the first book of a new series.

Set up December posts.

Fiddle with a Sin story on my resting days.

Zoo trip and Halloween preparing.

Start editing Warlord of the Forgotten Age

Do other stuff

Biking

Try to relax a bit.

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About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.

The only reason I’ve not been caught on scam calls like that is because I know there are all sorts of scams out there, so I have a policy of refusing to give any personal information to companies – even those I’m in the habit of dealing with – unless I was the one who initiated the call or requested it be made (the latter happening if I was supposed to be called back about something). I also only go to websites people on the phone say I should visit if it’s someone I know telling me to go there.

Not sure how this guy got my number and Dell isn’t sure either. Though, I think they call randomly since many people have a Dell, use Windows, or have an Apple product. Those are three of the big ones that get these scams. It is really strange that I got the call after spending so much time talking to Dell, which is the only reason I didn’t pick up on the scam until after the call. It was entirely plausible that they would contact me for something.

I’m so sorry! After all you’ve been through with the laptop, then a scammer calls. 😤 😠 😡 Hope the guy finds a nice jail cell soon.
I keep getting the spammers through the email. A priceless one was “Someone has donated money to you.” I sent that straight to the trash without clicking on it. Too bad, spammer. No one I know has money!